sew stitch snap SHARE #11

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Slow stitching this week, lots of other stuff happening, however I have made three no,
four more 'whimsy' blocks . . .

I now have 13 blocks so far and planning for #14 is well underway . . . 

That's all from me at the moment.

Time now for another fortnightly 'Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHARE' linkup

There were lots of inspiring projects shared last time.

I just loved what Meredithe from pomegranateandchintz was working on . . .

Meredithe designs her own templates {see here} and is using her set called 'parson's geese' for these latest blocks. Such a lovely scrappy mix of fabrics!
It will be really interesting to see how these all come together as Meredithe is planning on combining another block with them.
She also posts a regular 'class show & tell', I check in often as I find it very inspiring to see how others-down-under combine their fabrics & colour. Pop on over to her blog to see a lovely variety of projects each week, and much more.

And what are you working on right now?

Whatever you're sewing or stitching, you can link it up here.

Just follow these simple guidelines:

1. Link up from any post from the past week that features something you have been sewing or stitching. You can write as much or as little about your project as you like, or simply let your photos do the talking.
2. Somewhere in your post, please link back to this post.

3. Please comment on a couple of the other Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHARE links - its fun to receive comments from new people, and we are trying to encourage people to read blogs and to keep blogging. Hope you find some new inspiration too!

Thanks for joining us, Julie & Linda

some serious spring cleaning

Ah yes, I'm on a full spring cleaning mission around here at present,
we are moving
decluttering & downsizing
and decisions need to be made about what comes or what goes,
- including the stuff in my sewing room!

*pic from Google cartoons

But But But . . .
I have a lot of my stash organised in colours, in baskets where I can easily see the fabrics.
It seems to work . . .
I can usually find things . . .



. . . lately mind you, while I start off with the best intentions
when I have pulled fabrics from anywhere & everywhere for a few recent projects,
things have gone from order to disorder!

So yes, I guess maybe it's time for some selective scrap sorting,
maybe some decluttering
and maybe some destashing.

I started with my collection of 10" squares.
For a while there I had a monthly postie parcel from a patchwork shop.

 Occasionally there were fabrics I wouldn't chose
but, as you know, I have a soft spot for scrappy, and I've found them all very handy.

But, how to store them?

I had them all mixed up together, however in all honesty, they just got lost.

So, I spent some time reminiscing, colour sorting & folding each one,

and it took a while I admit . . .

. . .  but they are now all back tidily in the basket.

Next up, I rummaged through my fabric baskets
and put aside anything that was vintage-y looking. 

I've had Judy Newman's lovely book for a while now, {see here for book info}

and while her patterns are certainly adaptable
to any number of colour and fabric theme variations, I love the way she actually combines things.

And the fabrics she uses are different to what I see available here in NZ,

so I've made up a new basket of fabrics, perfect for making something similar . . . 

sometime . . . 

I also collected up a few fabric pulls that I had made during the year on a whim,

and decided that I still loved 'the idea' of each one,
so I folded them up nicely,
popped them into 'project packs'

and labelled them for future use . . .

{thanx to Audrey from quiltyfolk  and Linda from koshka2quilts for the ideas!}

Oh dear, oh dear, I've had fun but nothing actually got thrown out

{how can that be?}

Wish me luck with the rest of the house . . .

floral fun

Working on some more of my whimsy blocks today

 Loving this pattern by @judynewman, 
and am having lots of fun machine piecing these little floral beauties

There is a cheeky little inset seam,
but I'm finding that if I make up a few blocks at a time things seem to go smoothly.
I'm teaming up a scrappy selection of large scale florals from my stash
with a sweet crosscheck and a bright red & white stripe.

And three new blocks to add to the group . . .

Linking up with Myra for 'finished or not Friday' here
and with Cynthia here for 'oh scrap'

sew stitch snap SHARE #10

Hello again, time for another fortnightly 'Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHARE' linkup.

First up, what's happening here in my sewing room? Well, I've finished stitching down the binding on my 'queen of the may' quilt . . .

I've always loved the idea of making a quilt on a really bright background. So glad I finally did, even though it was a bit out of my comfort zone! {For inspiration details & lots of progress pics follow all the links here}

I've also been sewing up 9patch blocks this week. What’s not to love about a 9patch? Such a great way to turn my forgotten bundle of 3 1/2" strips into something pretty. And, it’s really simple to piece - 9 squares of the same-sized fabrics. It didn't take me too long before I had a dozen or so more to add to my vintage 9patch quilt. 

I played with the layout a little, and I would like to be able to say there was some design process thing-y happening here, but there wasn't!
Nothing matched nicely- like for instance, alternating light and dark centres to create a checkerboard effect. Nor could I use the simple alternating 4/5 block pattern using the solid fabrics as my focus, as I had unintentionally made up many more blocks where there were 4 plains with 5 prints. So there is no pattern, I simply joined them all up together almost as they came off my pile.

- my all -time favourite Kaffe fabric

- adding in a few Denyse Schmidt fabrics helped create that gentle vintage-style warmth.

 

Quilt top stats:

scrappy vintage 9patch 

using 3 1/2" assorted strips of forgotten fabric!

quilt measures 135cms x 155cms
I'm keen to give this another go and perhaps plan my plains & prints properly.

{see here for earlier pics}

And what are you working on right now?

Whatever you're sewing or stitching, you can link it up here.

Just follow these simple guidelines:

1. Link up from any post from the past week that features something you have been sewing or stitching. You can write as much or as little about your project as you like, or simply let your photos do the talking.
2. Somewhere in your post, please link back to this post.

3. Please comment on a couple of the other Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHARE links - its fun to receive comments from new people, and we are trying to encourage people to read blogs and to keep blogging. Hope you find some new inspiration too!

Thanks for joining us, Julie & Linda

back from the quilters

I've just received my 'queen of the May' quilt back from Leeanne the quilter.

Here's a few progress photos first, lots more here

{and see way back here, here and here for inspiration details and earlier decision dilemmas}

It's the first time *Leeanne & I have collaborated on a quilt together

and the quilting was not without a few panic moments!

It was quite touch & go with the yellow floral situation. I was seriously running out of it by the time I had finished piecing the quilt, and ended up joining it in quite a few places to get the required look. So, a few seams were narrow, less than your usual 1/4" which, once stretched out on the quilting frame, became somewhat comprimised.

And there was some fullness in those dresden circles too. I did wonder about cutting out the background once the cirlces were appliqued down, but it's not something I would usually do. I guess the thickness of the circles, plus the ricrac all shifted in the piecing process. 

However, Leeanne has done a brilliant job of sorting out my slap happy technique. Have a closer look . . . 

Thank you so much Leeanne.

Onto the binding this weekend now. 

Linking up with Kelly for 'needle and thread thursday' here at myquiltinfatuation
and with Myra for 'finished or not friday'  here at busyhandsquilts 

a bit more #66

*Leeanne is based in Whangarei, NZ and specialises in custom quilting.

To see more of her work or contact her, pop over here at quiltmekiwi

or here on instagram
- there's more close up quilting pics of my quilt over on Leeanne's blog too.

vintage 9patch

In my ventures this year to use up all my scraps, every now & then I take a break from present projects, and dig deep into my storage baskets. I came across a set of 3 1/2" strips all cut out and thrust into one end of a scrap basket.
Not a UFO as such, just a bunch of pre-modern florals & solids all mixed up together, and tied up with a strip of selvage. I'm sure I must have had a plan sometime, however today I just began sewing them together.

What actually attracted me back to this little collection was the hefty amount of solids,
and {inset smile} solids never go out of style do they?

Simple sewing, random and without a plan. 

Nothing was nicely matched into light and dark nor did it fall into any clear patterns
- but I was happy enough to be sewing with solids
and, there were some of my oldish favourite florals included too.

Before too long I had a bunch of 25 all joined up together,
and I plan now on making another 11 blocks to get it up to a decent size.

Sew happy to have found a way to keep things moving forward with these fabrics

. . . and if nothing else, it'll make a good backing for another quilt !

Linking up this week with Lorna for 'letsbeesocial' here

and with Esther for 'WiPs on Wednesday' over here

starting with tradition

This weekend I started out with a bit of traditional piecing
using a scrappy selection from my stash . . .

I'm using Judy Newman's pattern 'vintage comfort' from her new book
(see here for details)
It's made up of six rows with sashing inbetween, and is easily machine pieced.
After making up a few blocks traditionally, i.e. light/dark combos,

I decided to change a few things and try using a small-scale red gingham as my 'neutral'.

I've been really inspired by some wonderful quilters lately, 

and something I saw somewhere on IG

sent me off down this particular colour combo path. 

Victoria Findlay Wolfe's idea of 15minutesofplay
also had me veering off on a crazy tangent too, 'making' fabric . . .

Here's where I'm at right now

# pics updated as things have a habit of changing-as-I-go around here!

I stumbled across a 'soft' chartreuse in my stash for those wider sashing strips. 

It's all still very much a WiP but you will get the idea hopefully.

Linking up with Cynthia for 'oh scrap' here - where there's lots of scrap sharing

& inspiration!
and with Beth for 'monday making' here at lovelaughquilt
and Beth (again) for 'main crush Monday' here

a bit more #65

Oh, and I do still want to use Jennifer Paganelli's lovely bright 'Sophia in Pink' 

- just don't know quite where yet!